Shane Moran - Alternation Journal

ion. Johannesburg: SATRK.
This does not require that we lose focus on the specificity of regional studies, o
ican State: Thc Origins of Racially Exclusive Democracy.
necessity of situating South African exceptionalisni within the continental contex
Hall and 1Brrow (1998) stress, there is a need for area studies to counte South Africa: Capital Accumulation and Violence. Econonz~i and
preoccupation with globalisation which has a 'natural allure' and carries with it 'n
mysteries'. The integration of South African and African studies in a pe
cross-regional studies involves working within the tension between the reg
global, and this entails acknowledging the continuing importance ofpolitical econo
'There is much in Citizen and Subject which relates directly to
experience and, despite his insistence on blending the South African into a
1997. The Making ofApartlzeid 1948-1961: Conflict and Corrlprowzlse. Oxford:
African Studies, Marndani is not blind to the singularity and marked
between South African and continental experiences. He sees the speci
count~y in tile 'strength of its civil society, both white and black' (28), but he also car
a disturbing waniing: Paper on Local Governnlent, issued by the Ministry for Provincial Aff'airs and
titutional Developn~ent. March 1998. Government Gazette 13 March ( 1998).
independent Africa sliows apartheid South Africa one possible outcornc of
Francis 1974. Mine Labour in South Africu. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
a reformed state structure, deracialised but not democratized-whether
achieved through armed struggle or through negotiations, through
independence from a foreign colonial power or through strategic
engagement with an erstwhile colonizing resident minority: a deracialized
but decentralized despotism (6 1).
In the mind of this reviewer the warning is timely and to the point. Current tende
towards accom~nodation with the decentralised despotism which will entrap the
population in neo-colonial power relations are strongly evident and unopposed acro
party lines.
Social Policy Progr
University of Durban-Westvi
References
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Hall. Peter A & Sidney Tarrow 23 Janua~y 1998. Globalization and Area Studies: When is to
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Hemson. David 1980. The Class Consciousness and Migrant Workers: The Dock Workers
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Hindson. Doug 1987. Pass Controls and the Urban African Proletariat in Sozrth Afr
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Holoniisa. Phathekile 1998. Interview on Attitude of CONTRALESA to Political Cha~g
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